Diablo 3 beta: more story, always online, no mods

Some lucky journalists have played the beta for Diablo 3, and new details …

Blizzard is expected to release a beta of Diablo 3 later this year, but a group of journalists were recently invited to the developer's California headquarters to get an early look at what the rest of us will be playing. According to reports, the game is as deep and polished as we've come to expect from Blizzard, though it doesn't come without a few hang-ups.

Chief among said hangups is the fact that the game can't be played offline. As Eurogamer reported, the game will save your characters in the cloud and utilizes a banner system to display your in-game exploits and experience. But the cost of these online features is that the game will always have to be online in order to be playable.

The beta itself covers the first eight levels of the game—which apparently can be completed in around an hour if you rush—and lets players use each of the game's five different classes. Kotaku has a great rundown of how the classes are shaping up. The barbarian class utilizes frenzy instead of mana and features abilities such as the power to transform into a giant, powerful beast; the witchdoctor can summon everything from firebats (described as a flamethrower with bats in it) to creatures that can turn enemies into chickens; the wizard can slow down time, coat its skin with protective diamonds, and even has an alternate form; the monk is powered by spirit and features a wide array of martial arts moves; and the long-range demon hunter gets its power from both hatred and discipline, which aid both offensive and defensive abilities.

In short, it looks like the five classes will offer up quite a few options to players.

A life without skill points

One of the biggest changes this time around is that there are no longer skill points. Each character has six skill slots, and both skills and slots upgrade automatically as you progress through the game. You can swap skills in and out of slots as you like. The idea behind the change is to make each decision have more impact.

"Would you rather make 20 small decisions or three big ones?" Blizzard's Wyatt Cheng told Joystiq. "What we find, especially when it comes to defining your character, is that three big ones is more interesting and compelling."

There is a rune system, however, to give players more customization options. Runes add effects to skills and can alter their strength, which should allow for a lot of freedom for higher-level players.

There's a story in Diablo?

Diablo 3 will put a larger focus on narrative when compared to the previous games in the series, but the developers are attempting to do so in a way that's as unobtrusive as possible. Instead of simply reading text-based quests to get story, there will also be lots of audio that lets you listen in to what's happening without interrupting all of the hacking and slashing.

New Tristam concept art courtesy Blizzard Entertainment

The beta begins in a place called New Tristam, a town built upon the ruins of the town from the original Diablo. It's a mining town, but when it's struck by a meteor and beset by undead creatures, it ends up in need of some help. You end the beta by defeating the skeleton king, another nod to the first game, who just so happens to be the source of all the undead baddies. With regard to the first chapter, Eurogamer explains that "like everything else about Diablo 3, its narrative has an effortlessness about it that belies how carefully put together it is."

No mods here

In addition to the fact you'll always need to play the game online, one other detail popped up during the preview: according to PC Gamer, Diablo 3 won't support mods of any sort. Unlike StarCraft 2, which embraced mods, they will be prohibited in Diablo 3 duo to a "variety of gameplay and security reasons."

No date has been set for when the beta will be playable by the rest of us, but Blizzard has said to expect it at some point this year.

Diablo will NEVER be bad. Fans, like myself, have waited over a decade we expect perfection. Blizzard is the one company capable of it but they have that Activision effect to thwart from ruining everything. Now where is my damn beta acceptance already??

Demons, More Demons, meteors, and undead. You know... no matter how good the trades or the nightlife was, you'd think people would have learned by now in the Diablo world that moving to a town named Tristam is just a BAD IDEA.

I have no problem with them encouraging more online play and interactions, but it's just silly to have the "always online" even when playing in single player mode. Everyone gets an occasional hiccup when playing online. It happens in SC2 all the time. I can just see it now when the game is released and their servers are swamped. People dropping like crazy due to lag. People have come to generally accept online authentication as a one-time check, but the constant online authentication is just absurd.

I'm certainly still buying the game, but if it negatively impacts gameplay, I'll pass on the planned expansions.

""Would you rather make 20 small decisions or three big ones?" Blizzard's Wyatt Cheng told Joystiq. "What we find, especially when it comes to defining your character, is that three big ones is more interesting and compelling.""

Oh joy, more ezmode/catering to lowest common denominator from Blizzard. Why don't they just merge with Zynga at this point?

""Would you rather make 20 small decisions or three big ones?" Blizzard's Wyatt Cheng told Joystiq. "What we find, especially when it comes to defining your character, is that three big ones is more interesting and compelling.""

Oh joy, more ezmode/catering to lowest common denominator from Blizzard. Why don't they just merge with Zynga at this point?

Another blizzard game I won't be wiling to play due to battle.net DRM. Oh well, the gaming market already lost me as a customer. I find going outside to level my real body is much better.

I love misplaced indignation or "i'm doing it because I just don't believe it's right" attitudes. While the rest of the world keeps spinning and using DRM services like Netflix or Battle.net or Steam, ignored, irrelevant, and socially inept crusaders keep on going. Cory Doctorow would be proud!

No thanks, I'll stick with Torchlight 2, which will have full mod support, a refreshing attitude toward piracy and DRM, and perhaps most importantly, respect for their customers. Sure I might not have access to the super-cool social medias with their avatars and achievements, but if the last Torchlight was any indication, I'll have fun and plenty of it.

""Would you rather make 20 small decisions or three big ones?" Blizzard's Wyatt Cheng told Joystiq. "What we find, especially when it comes to defining your character, is that three big ones is more interesting and compelling.""

Oh joy, more ezmode/catering to lowest common denominator from Blizzard. Why don't they just merge with Zynga at this point?

I laughed, then agreed.

I love taking ungodly amounts of time to think through all of my 'small' decisions. That's one of the advantages of doing such things.

"Will this additional skill point benefit me in the long run? What if I combine it with these two other skills? Will I regret it later? Fuck it, let's do it!"

Same thing with gear. Half the fun is doing the math. Sucks that that's being taken away.

I live in New York state Time warner isnt stable enough for a 100% UPTIME connection. It drops in the rain, wind, snow,etc. I have their techs out 4-5 times a year. The connection is alwaus with their modem, or lines. I cant play diablo 2 online amy more as it is. An always on connection doesnt work. Oddly enough road runner goes down but their phone/ cable system still work.

I live in New York state Time warner isnt stable enough for a 100% UPTIME connection. It drops in the rain, wind, snow,etc. I have their techs out 4-5 times a year. The connection is always with their modem, or lines. I cant play diablo 2 online amy more as it is. An always on connection doesnt work. Oddly enough road runner goes down but their phone/ cable system still work.

time warner NY here as well, but i seldom have any issues. you might just have really bad luck.

I live in New York state Time warner isnt stable enough for a 100% UPTIME connection. It drops in the rain, wind, snow,etc. I have their techs out 4-5 times a year. The connection is alwaus with their modem, or lines. I cant play diablo 2 online amy more as it is. An always on connection doesnt work. Oddly enough road runner goes down but their phone/ cable system still work.

I had a similar problem with Comcast at one point, where it would just cut out and die whenever the weather was anything less than dry sunny. After about four visits and six phone calls of them blaming me for the issue in a veiled manner, they found out that it was the wires running from the house to the pole. Turns out squirrels gnawed away the weather coating on the wires, and whenever the weather was wet or humid, moisture would build up on the bare wire and kill my connection.

What other companies consider "mods" have generally been game play changes.

Lack of mods in this case really isn't an issue.

The reason d2 is still on my computer is because of some of the great mods, loosing support is a terrible thing, what does the ui have to do with it. If I want to download a mod to change the game or ui why shouldn't I you don't need to join my game, it doesn't' affect you or ladders. If they start selling mods for this you'll know the reason for this change. I hope blizzard isn't heading this direction.

I've been arguing for blizzard and how activision isn't ruining them for a while now but I'm not so sure now. Diablo 2 is my go to game when I'm traveling and I use it in locations all the time with out internet. Sometimes out of tethering range. I shouldn't have to worry that I can't play if I'm traveling. If blizzard keeps up with the bs that they've been pulling lately I'll be pretty devastated. I love their games but I will not be dicked around and told when I can and can't play my games. This is pure bs, plain and simple and it's a damn shame it's blizzard following the pack after all these years. Yea it's a service that I have to buy 2 copies of the game just to play with friends over seas.....

Guess he didn't play Diablo 2 either, that was full of red cartoon goblins in lush green fields. Along with cuddly cat-people and giant funky scarabs in a blistering white desert. Have fun back in 1996 with Diablo 1.

""Would you rather make 20 small decisions or three big ones?" Blizzard's Wyatt Cheng told Joystiq. "What we find, especially when it comes to defining your character, is that three big ones is more interesting and compelling.""

Oh joy, more ezmode/catering to lowest common denominator from Blizzard. Why don't they just merge with Zynga at this point?

I laughed, then agreed.

I love taking ungodly amounts of time to think through all of my 'small' decisions. That's one of the advantages of doing such things.

"Will this additional skill point benefit me in the long run? What if I combine it with these two other skills? Will I regret it later? Fuck it, let's do it!"

Same thing with gear. Half the fun is doing the math. Sucks that that's being taken away.

This.

Diablo II was all about min/maxing; that was the whole point. Running character after character, trying out new builds, working with the ever-evolving relationships between skills - that's what I want to do.

To a large extent, I trust in The Blizz, but I admit I don't like the sound of what they're saying.

Guess he didn't play Diablo 2 either, that was full of red cartoon goblins in lush green fields. Along with cuddly cat-people and giant funky scarabs in a blistering white desert. Have fun back in 1996 with Diablo 1.

So I have to be _always_ online, so that my character can be saved on their server instead of my computer? First: this is technical nonsense; second: No, thanks.As crappy as when they were banning players cheating in _single_ player Star Craft 2.

Also, their reasoning about 'three big choices' is utter crap, too. If you can switch the skills anytime, you make no choices at all.

I hear it all the time from my roommate who can't pull himself away from DnD or LOTR Online why I'm not slashing monsters with him. The answer I give him drives him up the wall. I tell him that I can go to the bathroom alone and enjoy the peace and quiet without being cried to I'm too slow or not wanting to deal with others. D1/D2 were the same way. I enjoy playing against the PC and not having to chew up bandwidth. If I wanted to do the online thing...it would've happened a long time ago.

Another blizzard game I won't be wiling to play due to battle.net DRM. Oh well, the gaming market already lost me as a customer. I find going outside to level my real body is much better.

I love misplaced indignation or "i'm doing it because I just don't believe it's right" attitudes. While the rest of the world keeps spinning and using DRM services like Netflix or Battle.net or Steam, ignored, irrelevant, and socially inept crusaders keep on going. Cory Doctorow would be proud!

Steam isn't an 'always online' DRM like what this claims or what Ubisoft has been using. You have to go online to authenticate, download, or update, but you can switch Steam to offline mode, and you don't get booted off your single player game because your connection goes down.

And that's why people hate such schemes - most gamers these days usually play on a computer with a constant connection. But internet connections go down, and game servers go down, and it really sucks when you can't play the single player game you legitimately paid for because of factors outside your control.